- Email: [email protected]
The investigation of Turkish high school students’ Internet use profiles across their demographics
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
WCES-2011
The investigation of Turkish high school students’ Internet use profiles across their demographics Mustafa Koca *, Suzan Lema Tamera a
Department of Educational Technologies, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey
Abstract This cross-sectional study investigated Turkish high schools students’ Internet use profiles in terms of the frequency and dominant purpose of Internet use across their demographic characteristics. The data set consisted of 1380 questionnaires. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square tests with cross-tabulation were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the frequency of Internet use differed by gender, perceived socio-economic status, school type, and perceived academic success. The dominant purpose behind the usage also differed by these factors except for socio-economic status. Nevertheless, the effect sizes were small, suggesting that these gaps could be narrowing down for this population. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Internet use; high school students; gender; school type; socio-economic status; achievement level
1. Background and context Although people in all segments of the society use the Internet, especially young adolescents are the most frequent users. The most part of this attraction is due to their development stage in which they look for and experience different identities, social and emotional relationships, academic and working careers, and entertainment outlets. Moreover, youngsters have more interest in technology and thus more adoption and usage as well. According to world Internet usage statistics, there were 1114 million users in 2007 and more than 1668 million in 2009 (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2009). In April 2009, Turkey was reported as having the seventh largest audience with 17 million users and the first in terms of time spent online (average 32 hours) and content consumed (average 3044 pages) per person out of 17 European countries (comScore, 2009). Social networking and entertainment sites were identified as the major drivers of this heavy engagement. Annual ICT usage surveys conducted by Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) from 2007 to 2010 indicated that the number of households with Internet access and Internet usage have been continuously increasing (TUIK, 2010). Besides, through the “Internet Connection Project” by Ministry of Education (MEB), 100% of high school and 94% of elementary schools with approximately 12 million students connected to high speed Internet by the end of 2008 (MEB, 2009). Such an explosive usage not only in Turkey but also all over the world attracted researchers to investigate the possible impacts of the Internet on people lives. The Internet has been shown to promote social interaction, community and political involvement (Katz, Rice, & Aspden, 2001). On the other hand, prior research has identified * Mustafa Koc. Tel.: +90-505-922-4425; fax: +90-246-237-1283. E-mail address: [email protected]
1877–0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.213
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
2913
pathological online behavior (i.e., internet addiction) associated with social isolation (Kraut et al., 1998), depressive symptoms (Ha et al., 2007) and academic impairments (Bayraktar & Gun, 2007; Chou & Hsiao, 2000). Therefore, there needs to be more research on students’ Internet use habits for better educational and healthy application. The literature has a growing body of research on the characteristics of Internet use among youth. Nevertheless, they varied in terms of target population. Hence, the focus of this study was on Turkish high school students and the main purpose was to explore their frequency and purpose of Internet use and whether this usage differed across their demographics. The study also attempted to extend related research beyond the usual demographics. In order to fulfill this aim, the following research questions were investigated: 1. How often do students use the Internet? 2. What are their dominant purposes of using the Internet? 3. Do their (a) frequencies and (b) dominant purposes of Internet use differ across gender, perceived socioeconomic status, school type, and perceived academic achievement? 2. Research methodology This study was designed as a comparative survey within the quantitative research methodologies (Karasar, 1994). It took place in the city of Isparta, Turkey, during the fall semester of 2010 academic year. Cluster sampling was employed to recruit the participants. The researchers made a list of high schools in the city center. A total of 20 schools were designated on the list and clustered into three groups as vocational (8), general (4), and Anatolian (8) high schools. The researchers randomly sampled from each group proportionately to their representation in the list. They decided to select five schools in accordance with the budget and time limitations. Therefore, the number of schools selected from the list followed as 2, 1, and 2 respectively. The second author visited the schools to collect the data and tried to reach all students available at the time of data collection. The sample comprised of 1380 high school students who filled out the majority of the data form in terms of important variables of the study. Data were collected through a questionnaire. The form was made up of two main parts. In the first one, students were asked to indicate such demographics as gender (male, female), perceived socio-economic status (low, medium, high), school type they were attending (vocational, general, Anatolian), and perceived academic achievement (poor, average, good). Each demographic was operationalized as a categorical variable. In the second part, students were asked to respond some items describing their Internet use profiles, only two of which were used in this study. The first item measured how often students use the Internet on a four-point Likert scale (1=not at all, 4=everyday). The second one asked students to indicate their dominant purpose of using the Internet. The review of literature revealed four main motives for Internet use as (a) education (searching for information, reading about news, etc.), (b) communication (sending and receiving e-mails, online chatting, joining discussion forums, etc.), (c) entertainment (surfing for fun, playing games, watching videos, etc.), and (d) commerce (online shopping, banking, trading, etc.) (Koc & Ferneding, 2007). Consequently, this item was operationalized as a categorical variable with these four options and asked students to select only one for which they most frequently use the Internet. The data analysis was accomplished in three phases. Students’ responses were initially coded and simultaneously entered into the SPSS package program. Next, descriptive statistics were conducted for each variable. This helped the researchers recognize the data set, check for possible errors made during the data entrance, and assure that the sample was normal enough to use inferential statistics. Finally, appropriate tests (ANOVA and Chi-square) were conducted to test the relationships between Internet use profiles and demographics. 3. Findings When asked about the frequency of Internet use, 31% of the participants reported that they were using the Internet everyday, 45% were using a few times a week, 20% were using a few times a month. Only 4% of students indicated that they had never used the Internet. Overall, it can be seen that three out of four are regular users at least on a weekly basis. The mean of the frequency of Internet use for the sample was calculated as 3.03 (SD=.81), also indicating that students on average use the Internet at least several times a week. Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations for the frequency of Internet usage by demographic characteristics. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to determine if the frequency of Internet use differs across each demographic. Table 2 presents the results. Regarding gender (F=47.87, p<.01, Ș2=.03), male
2914
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
students (M=3.20, SD=.78) were found to be more frequent users than female ones (M=2.90, SD=.81). Significant differences were also indicated by socio-economic status (F=9.54, p<.01, Ș2=.01), school type (F=7.33, p<.01, Ș2=.01), and academic success (F=11.34, p<.01, Ș2=.02). Since these categorical variables had more than two groups, Tukey HSD post hoc comparison tests were conducted to find out which groups were significantly different from which other groups. Consequently, students who perceived their socio-economic status as medium (M=3.05, SD=.79) and high level (M=3.14, SD=.90) used the Internet more frequently than those who perceived themselves as low level (M=2.68, SD=.89). Vocational high school students (M=3.14, SD=.79) were more frequent users than general (M=2.99, SD=.82) and Anatolian high school students (M=2.95, SD=.82). Moreover, those who saw themselves with poor (M=3.20, SD=.77) and average (M=3.07, SD=.77) level of academic success used the Internet more frequently than good level students (M=2.87, SD=.89). Although these were statistically significant results, the actual differences between groups were not big as was also evidenced in the small effect sizes (.01 Ș2.03) according to Cohen’s (1988) criteria. Table 1. Descriptives for the frequency of Internet use by demographics Demographics Gender Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
Categories Male Female Low Medium High Vocational General Anatolian Poor Average Good
M 3.20 2.90 2.68 3.05 3.14 3.14 2.99 2.95 3.20 3.07 2.87
SD .78 .81 .89 .79 .90 .79 .82 .82 .77 .77 .89
Table 2. One-way ANOVA results for the comparison of frequency of Internet use by demographics Demographics Gender
Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
Source Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total
Sum of Squares 30.46 876.14 906.60 12.34 889.19 901.53 9.55 897.04 906.60 14.66 884.73 899.39
df 1 1377 1378 2 1374 1376 2 1376 1378 2 1369 1371
Mean Squares 30.46 .64
F 47.87
p .00
Significant Pairs Male-Female
6.17 .65
9.54
.00
Medium-Low High-Low
4.78 .65
7.33
.00
Vocational-General Vocational-Anatolian
7.33 .65
11.34
.00
Poor-Good Average-Good
As far as the dominant purpose of using the Internet was concerned, 39% of the participants reported that they were using the Internet mostly for communication, 30% for education, 30% for entertainment, and almost 1% for commercial activities. The distribution of dominant purpose of use across demographics and the results of Pearson Chi-square tests are given in Table 3. The commerce category was removed from the analyses because it had a very small frequency (n=7), and thus, resulted in the violation of the Chi-square assumption (Buyukozturk, 2010). As shown in Table 3, the dominant purpose of Internet use was independent of socio-economic status (Ȥ2=3.65, p>.05). On the contrary, it was significantly associated with gender (Ȥ2=85.29, p<.01), school type (Ȥ2=30.76, p<.01), and perceived academic success (Ȥ2=37.58, p<.01). The effect size was medium for gender (Cramer’s V=.25) and small for school type (Cramer’s V=.11) and perceived academic success (Cramer’s V=.12). Females were more likely to use the Internet mostly for education and communication while males were more likely to use it mostly for entertainment purposes. Vocational and general high school students were more likely to use it mostly for education than Anatolian high school students. Regarding communication-oriented usage, Anatolian and general high school students were more likely to use it than vocational students. On the other hand, Anatolian high school students were more likely to use it mostly for entertainment than others. The higher the
2915
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
perceived academic achievement, the more frequently students use the Internet for education, but the less frequently they used for communication and entertainment. Table 3. Cross-tabulation of dominant pattern of Internet activity by demographics Demographics
Categories
Education f (%)
Communication f (%)
Entertainment f (%)
Total f (%)
Ȥ2
p
Gender
Male Female Low Medium High Vocational General Anatolian Poor Average Good
127 (22) 279 (38) 27 (34) 359 (31) 20 (23) 184 (36) 104 (35) 118 (23) 21 (14) 253 (30) 130 (41)
210 (36) 311 (42) 31 (39) 451 (39) 38 (43) 193 (38) 125 (42) 203 (40) 72 (48) 347 (41) 100 (32)
247 (42) 147 (20) 21 (27) 342 (30) 31 (35) 135 (26) 71 (23) 188 (37) 58 (38) 247 (29) 87 (27)
584 (100) 737 (100) 79 (100) 1152 (100) 89 (100) 512 (100) 300 (100) 509 (100) 151 (100) 847 (100) 317 (100)
85.29
.00
3.65
.46
30.76
.00
37.58
.00
Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
4. Discussion and conclusion This cross-sectional study suggested several intriguing albeit weak relationships between high school students’ Internet use profiles and demographics. Male students reported using the Internet more frequently than female students. This finding was consistent with prior research revealing gender gap in frequency and intensity of Internet use in favor of male users (Bayraktar & Gun, 2007; Ono & Zavodny, 2003). This may be due to personal traits or attitudes toward technology because previous studies indicated that males felt more comfortable and competent in using the Internet than females (Schumacher & Morahan-Martin, 2001). Perhaps, males may involve in some online activities (e.g., online games) that urges them to be connected for extended period of time. It may also be associated with the location of access. Other than home and schools, youth may access to Internet in Internet cafes in Turkey. These commercial places have been very popular in the country and influenced by rather masculine culture and thus visited mostly by males (Koc, 2006). Students in high and medium level of socio-economic status tended to use the Internet more than those in low level. This result is reasonable because home Internet access is still expensive for some families in Turkey. Students without home access go to Internet cafes and pay for the time they spend on the Internet. Therefore, the more money they have, the more they can use it. Vocational high school students reported using the Internet more than others. One possible explanation could be the fact that Anatolian and general high school students have higher level of motivation for future careers. Therefore, they could spend most of their time on studying, preparing for exams, and going to after-school courses, and thus, reserve less time for the Internet. This could also explain the differences by perceived academic success. Students with good achievement perceptions tended to use the Internet less than others. The dominant purpose for Internet use was found to be gendered. Males reported using the Internet primarily for entertainment whereas females used it mostly for education and communication. Similar findings were reported in other studies as well (Jackson, Ervin, Gardner, & Schmitt, 2001; Li & Kirkup, 2007; Weiser, 2000). This could be due to the fact that leisure-based online content may be dominated by activities that were developed exclusively for men. For instance, most of the games include masculine behaviors and language. It is also possible that males tend to play games and females chat with their friends as a way to relieve daily fatigue and stress. Anatolian high school students’ primary motive was entertainment while others’ was education. This was a surprising result. Anatolian high school students were anticipated to use the Internet mostly for education as they were known as highly motivated for academic careers. This contrary result suggests that they may engage in extra offline curricular activities, which adequately satisfy their educational needs. Hence, they may be quite occupied with studying offline and spend their free time online primarily for leisure. This explanation is also consonant with the finding which indicated that Anatolian high school students use the Internet less frequently than others. Furthermore, higher achievers reported using the Internet mostly for education while lower ones used primarily for entertainment. This was an expected result because successful students are usually self-confident and motivated in working more on school-related works and this seems to be influential in their Internet usage.
2916
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
In closing, the study showed that the frequency of Internet use differed by gender, perceived socio-economic status, school type, and perceived academic success. The dominant purpose behind the usage also differed by these factors except for socio-economic status. Nevertheless, the small effect sizes suggest that these gaps could be narrowing down. Subsequent studies are called for to find out whether these differences persist or not. Acknowledgement This research was supported by grants from the Center for Scientific Research Projects, Suleyman Demirel University under the Project No: 2277-YL-10. Special thanks go to participants and educational district office. References Bayraktar, F., & Gun, Z. (2007). Incidence and correlates of Internet usage among adolescents in North Cyprus. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(2), 191-197. Buyukozturk, S. (2010). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabÕ. (12th ed.). Ankara: Pegem Akademi. Chou, C., & Hsiao, M. C. (2000). Internet addiction, usage, gratification, and pleasure experience: The Taiwan college students’ case. Computers & Education, 35, 65-80. Cohen, J. W. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. comSCore, (2009). Press release: Turkey has 7th largest and most engaged online audience in Europe. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/5/Turkey_has_Seventh_Largest_Online_Audience_in_Europe Ha, J. H., Kim, S. Y., Bae, S. C., Bae, S., Kim, H., Sim, M. et al. (2007). Depression and Internet addiction in adolescents. Psychopathology, 40, 424-430. Jackson, L., Ervin, K., Gardner, P., & Schmitt, N. (2001). Gender and the Internet: Women communicating and men searching. Sex Roles, 44, 363-379. Karasar, N. (1994). Bilimsel arastirma yontemi. (6th ed.). Ankara: Nobel Yayinlari. Katz, J. E., Rice, R. E., & Aspden, P. (2001). The Internet 1995-2000: Access, civic involvement, and social interaction. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 405-419. Koc, M. (2006). Social and cultural identity development of Turkish youth in the age of technology and globalization: A study on Internet cafes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Koc, M., & Ferneding, K. A. (2007). The consequences of Internet café use on Turkish college students’ social capital. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 6(3), 88-97. Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53, 1017-1031. Li, N., & Kirkup, G. (2007). Gender and cultural differences in Internet use: A study of China and the UK. Computers & Education, 48, 301-317. MEB, (2009). MEB Internete erisim projesi. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.meb.gov.tr/ADSL/adsl_index.html Miniwatts Marketing Group, (2009). World Internet usage statistics news and population stats. Retrieved February 12, 2010, from www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Ono, H., & Zavodny, M. (2003). Gender and the Internet. Social Science Quarterly, 84(1), 111-121. Schumacher, P., & Morahan-Martin, J. (2001). Gender, Internet and computer attitudes and experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 17(1), 95-110. TUIK, (2010). Press release: Information and communication technology (ICT) usage survey in households and individuals. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=6308 Weiser, E. B. (2000). Gender differences in Internet use patterns and Internet application preferences: A two-sample comparison. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(2), 167-178.
Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
WCES-2011
The investigation of Turkish high school students’ Internet use profiles across their demographics Mustafa Koca *, Suzan Lema Tamera a
Department of Educational Technologies, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey
Abstract This cross-sectional study investigated Turkish high schools students’ Internet use profiles in terms of the frequency and dominant purpose of Internet use across their demographic characteristics. The data set consisted of 1380 questionnaires. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square tests with cross-tabulation were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that the frequency of Internet use differed by gender, perceived socio-economic status, school type, and perceived academic success. The dominant purpose behind the usage also differed by these factors except for socio-economic status. Nevertheless, the effect sizes were small, suggesting that these gaps could be narrowing down for this population. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Internet use; high school students; gender; school type; socio-economic status; achievement level
1. Background and context Although people in all segments of the society use the Internet, especially young adolescents are the most frequent users. The most part of this attraction is due to their development stage in which they look for and experience different identities, social and emotional relationships, academic and working careers, and entertainment outlets. Moreover, youngsters have more interest in technology and thus more adoption and usage as well. According to world Internet usage statistics, there were 1114 million users in 2007 and more than 1668 million in 2009 (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2009). In April 2009, Turkey was reported as having the seventh largest audience with 17 million users and the first in terms of time spent online (average 32 hours) and content consumed (average 3044 pages) per person out of 17 European countries (comScore, 2009). Social networking and entertainment sites were identified as the major drivers of this heavy engagement. Annual ICT usage surveys conducted by Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) from 2007 to 2010 indicated that the number of households with Internet access and Internet usage have been continuously increasing (TUIK, 2010). Besides, through the “Internet Connection Project” by Ministry of Education (MEB), 100% of high school and 94% of elementary schools with approximately 12 million students connected to high speed Internet by the end of 2008 (MEB, 2009). Such an explosive usage not only in Turkey but also all over the world attracted researchers to investigate the possible impacts of the Internet on people lives. The Internet has been shown to promote social interaction, community and political involvement (Katz, Rice, & Aspden, 2001). On the other hand, prior research has identified * Mustafa Koc. Tel.: +90-505-922-4425; fax: +90-246-237-1283. E-mail address: [email protected]
1877–0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.213
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
2913
pathological online behavior (i.e., internet addiction) associated with social isolation (Kraut et al., 1998), depressive symptoms (Ha et al., 2007) and academic impairments (Bayraktar & Gun, 2007; Chou & Hsiao, 2000). Therefore, there needs to be more research on students’ Internet use habits for better educational and healthy application. The literature has a growing body of research on the characteristics of Internet use among youth. Nevertheless, they varied in terms of target population. Hence, the focus of this study was on Turkish high school students and the main purpose was to explore their frequency and purpose of Internet use and whether this usage differed across their demographics. The study also attempted to extend related research beyond the usual demographics. In order to fulfill this aim, the following research questions were investigated: 1. How often do students use the Internet? 2. What are their dominant purposes of using the Internet? 3. Do their (a) frequencies and (b) dominant purposes of Internet use differ across gender, perceived socioeconomic status, school type, and perceived academic achievement? 2. Research methodology This study was designed as a comparative survey within the quantitative research methodologies (Karasar, 1994). It took place in the city of Isparta, Turkey, during the fall semester of 2010 academic year. Cluster sampling was employed to recruit the participants. The researchers made a list of high schools in the city center. A total of 20 schools were designated on the list and clustered into three groups as vocational (8), general (4), and Anatolian (8) high schools. The researchers randomly sampled from each group proportionately to their representation in the list. They decided to select five schools in accordance with the budget and time limitations. Therefore, the number of schools selected from the list followed as 2, 1, and 2 respectively. The second author visited the schools to collect the data and tried to reach all students available at the time of data collection. The sample comprised of 1380 high school students who filled out the majority of the data form in terms of important variables of the study. Data were collected through a questionnaire. The form was made up of two main parts. In the first one, students were asked to indicate such demographics as gender (male, female), perceived socio-economic status (low, medium, high), school type they were attending (vocational, general, Anatolian), and perceived academic achievement (poor, average, good). Each demographic was operationalized as a categorical variable. In the second part, students were asked to respond some items describing their Internet use profiles, only two of which were used in this study. The first item measured how often students use the Internet on a four-point Likert scale (1=not at all, 4=everyday). The second one asked students to indicate their dominant purpose of using the Internet. The review of literature revealed four main motives for Internet use as (a) education (searching for information, reading about news, etc.), (b) communication (sending and receiving e-mails, online chatting, joining discussion forums, etc.), (c) entertainment (surfing for fun, playing games, watching videos, etc.), and (d) commerce (online shopping, banking, trading, etc.) (Koc & Ferneding, 2007). Consequently, this item was operationalized as a categorical variable with these four options and asked students to select only one for which they most frequently use the Internet. The data analysis was accomplished in three phases. Students’ responses were initially coded and simultaneously entered into the SPSS package program. Next, descriptive statistics were conducted for each variable. This helped the researchers recognize the data set, check for possible errors made during the data entrance, and assure that the sample was normal enough to use inferential statistics. Finally, appropriate tests (ANOVA and Chi-square) were conducted to test the relationships between Internet use profiles and demographics. 3. Findings When asked about the frequency of Internet use, 31% of the participants reported that they were using the Internet everyday, 45% were using a few times a week, 20% were using a few times a month. Only 4% of students indicated that they had never used the Internet. Overall, it can be seen that three out of four are regular users at least on a weekly basis. The mean of the frequency of Internet use for the sample was calculated as 3.03 (SD=.81), also indicating that students on average use the Internet at least several times a week. Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations for the frequency of Internet usage by demographic characteristics. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to determine if the frequency of Internet use differs across each demographic. Table 2 presents the results. Regarding gender (F=47.87, p<.01, Ș2=.03), male
2914
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
students (M=3.20, SD=.78) were found to be more frequent users than female ones (M=2.90, SD=.81). Significant differences were also indicated by socio-economic status (F=9.54, p<.01, Ș2=.01), school type (F=7.33, p<.01, Ș2=.01), and academic success (F=11.34, p<.01, Ș2=.02). Since these categorical variables had more than two groups, Tukey HSD post hoc comparison tests were conducted to find out which groups were significantly different from which other groups. Consequently, students who perceived their socio-economic status as medium (M=3.05, SD=.79) and high level (M=3.14, SD=.90) used the Internet more frequently than those who perceived themselves as low level (M=2.68, SD=.89). Vocational high school students (M=3.14, SD=.79) were more frequent users than general (M=2.99, SD=.82) and Anatolian high school students (M=2.95, SD=.82). Moreover, those who saw themselves with poor (M=3.20, SD=.77) and average (M=3.07, SD=.77) level of academic success used the Internet more frequently than good level students (M=2.87, SD=.89). Although these were statistically significant results, the actual differences between groups were not big as was also evidenced in the small effect sizes (.01 Ș2.03) according to Cohen’s (1988) criteria. Table 1. Descriptives for the frequency of Internet use by demographics Demographics Gender Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
Categories Male Female Low Medium High Vocational General Anatolian Poor Average Good
M 3.20 2.90 2.68 3.05 3.14 3.14 2.99 2.95 3.20 3.07 2.87
SD .78 .81 .89 .79 .90 .79 .82 .82 .77 .77 .89
Table 2. One-way ANOVA results for the comparison of frequency of Internet use by demographics Demographics Gender
Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
Source Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total
Sum of Squares 30.46 876.14 906.60 12.34 889.19 901.53 9.55 897.04 906.60 14.66 884.73 899.39
df 1 1377 1378 2 1374 1376 2 1376 1378 2 1369 1371
Mean Squares 30.46 .64
F 47.87
p .00
Significant Pairs Male-Female
6.17 .65
9.54
.00
Medium-Low High-Low
4.78 .65
7.33
.00
Vocational-General Vocational-Anatolian
7.33 .65
11.34
.00
Poor-Good Average-Good
As far as the dominant purpose of using the Internet was concerned, 39% of the participants reported that they were using the Internet mostly for communication, 30% for education, 30% for entertainment, and almost 1% for commercial activities. The distribution of dominant purpose of use across demographics and the results of Pearson Chi-square tests are given in Table 3. The commerce category was removed from the analyses because it had a very small frequency (n=7), and thus, resulted in the violation of the Chi-square assumption (Buyukozturk, 2010). As shown in Table 3, the dominant purpose of Internet use was independent of socio-economic status (Ȥ2=3.65, p>.05). On the contrary, it was significantly associated with gender (Ȥ2=85.29, p<.01), school type (Ȥ2=30.76, p<.01), and perceived academic success (Ȥ2=37.58, p<.01). The effect size was medium for gender (Cramer’s V=.25) and small for school type (Cramer’s V=.11) and perceived academic success (Cramer’s V=.12). Females were more likely to use the Internet mostly for education and communication while males were more likely to use it mostly for entertainment purposes. Vocational and general high school students were more likely to use it mostly for education than Anatolian high school students. Regarding communication-oriented usage, Anatolian and general high school students were more likely to use it than vocational students. On the other hand, Anatolian high school students were more likely to use it mostly for entertainment than others. The higher the
2915
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
perceived academic achievement, the more frequently students use the Internet for education, but the less frequently they used for communication and entertainment. Table 3. Cross-tabulation of dominant pattern of Internet activity by demographics Demographics
Categories
Education f (%)
Communication f (%)
Entertainment f (%)
Total f (%)
Ȥ2
p
Gender
Male Female Low Medium High Vocational General Anatolian Poor Average Good
127 (22) 279 (38) 27 (34) 359 (31) 20 (23) 184 (36) 104 (35) 118 (23) 21 (14) 253 (30) 130 (41)
210 (36) 311 (42) 31 (39) 451 (39) 38 (43) 193 (38) 125 (42) 203 (40) 72 (48) 347 (41) 100 (32)
247 (42) 147 (20) 21 (27) 342 (30) 31 (35) 135 (26) 71 (23) 188 (37) 58 (38) 247 (29) 87 (27)
584 (100) 737 (100) 79 (100) 1152 (100) 89 (100) 512 (100) 300 (100) 509 (100) 151 (100) 847 (100) 317 (100)
85.29
.00
3.65
.46
30.76
.00
37.58
.00
Socio-economic status
School type
Achievement level
4. Discussion and conclusion This cross-sectional study suggested several intriguing albeit weak relationships between high school students’ Internet use profiles and demographics. Male students reported using the Internet more frequently than female students. This finding was consistent with prior research revealing gender gap in frequency and intensity of Internet use in favor of male users (Bayraktar & Gun, 2007; Ono & Zavodny, 2003). This may be due to personal traits or attitudes toward technology because previous studies indicated that males felt more comfortable and competent in using the Internet than females (Schumacher & Morahan-Martin, 2001). Perhaps, males may involve in some online activities (e.g., online games) that urges them to be connected for extended period of time. It may also be associated with the location of access. Other than home and schools, youth may access to Internet in Internet cafes in Turkey. These commercial places have been very popular in the country and influenced by rather masculine culture and thus visited mostly by males (Koc, 2006). Students in high and medium level of socio-economic status tended to use the Internet more than those in low level. This result is reasonable because home Internet access is still expensive for some families in Turkey. Students without home access go to Internet cafes and pay for the time they spend on the Internet. Therefore, the more money they have, the more they can use it. Vocational high school students reported using the Internet more than others. One possible explanation could be the fact that Anatolian and general high school students have higher level of motivation for future careers. Therefore, they could spend most of their time on studying, preparing for exams, and going to after-school courses, and thus, reserve less time for the Internet. This could also explain the differences by perceived academic success. Students with good achievement perceptions tended to use the Internet less than others. The dominant purpose for Internet use was found to be gendered. Males reported using the Internet primarily for entertainment whereas females used it mostly for education and communication. Similar findings were reported in other studies as well (Jackson, Ervin, Gardner, & Schmitt, 2001; Li & Kirkup, 2007; Weiser, 2000). This could be due to the fact that leisure-based online content may be dominated by activities that were developed exclusively for men. For instance, most of the games include masculine behaviors and language. It is also possible that males tend to play games and females chat with their friends as a way to relieve daily fatigue and stress. Anatolian high school students’ primary motive was entertainment while others’ was education. This was a surprising result. Anatolian high school students were anticipated to use the Internet mostly for education as they were known as highly motivated for academic careers. This contrary result suggests that they may engage in extra offline curricular activities, which adequately satisfy their educational needs. Hence, they may be quite occupied with studying offline and spend their free time online primarily for leisure. This explanation is also consonant with the finding which indicated that Anatolian high school students use the Internet less frequently than others. Furthermore, higher achievers reported using the Internet mostly for education while lower ones used primarily for entertainment. This was an expected result because successful students are usually self-confident and motivated in working more on school-related works and this seems to be influential in their Internet usage.
2916
Mustafa Koc and Suzan Lema Tamer / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 15 (2011) 2912–2916
In closing, the study showed that the frequency of Internet use differed by gender, perceived socio-economic status, school type, and perceived academic success. The dominant purpose behind the usage also differed by these factors except for socio-economic status. Nevertheless, the small effect sizes suggest that these gaps could be narrowing down. Subsequent studies are called for to find out whether these differences persist or not. Acknowledgement This research was supported by grants from the Center for Scientific Research Projects, Suleyman Demirel University under the Project No: 2277-YL-10. Special thanks go to participants and educational district office. References Bayraktar, F., & Gun, Z. (2007). Incidence and correlates of Internet usage among adolescents in North Cyprus. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(2), 191-197. Buyukozturk, S. (2010). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabÕ. (12th ed.). Ankara: Pegem Akademi. Chou, C., & Hsiao, M. C. (2000). Internet addiction, usage, gratification, and pleasure experience: The Taiwan college students’ case. Computers & Education, 35, 65-80. Cohen, J. W. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. comSCore, (2009). Press release: Turkey has 7th largest and most engaged online audience in Europe. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/5/Turkey_has_Seventh_Largest_Online_Audience_in_Europe Ha, J. H., Kim, S. Y., Bae, S. C., Bae, S., Kim, H., Sim, M. et al. (2007). Depression and Internet addiction in adolescents. Psychopathology, 40, 424-430. Jackson, L., Ervin, K., Gardner, P., & Schmitt, N. (2001). Gender and the Internet: Women communicating and men searching. Sex Roles, 44, 363-379. Karasar, N. (1994). Bilimsel arastirma yontemi. (6th ed.). Ankara: Nobel Yayinlari. Katz, J. E., Rice, R. E., & Aspden, P. (2001). The Internet 1995-2000: Access, civic involvement, and social interaction. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 405-419. Koc, M. (2006). Social and cultural identity development of Turkish youth in the age of technology and globalization: A study on Internet cafes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Koc, M., & Ferneding, K. A. (2007). The consequences of Internet café use on Turkish college students’ social capital. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 6(3), 88-97. Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53, 1017-1031. Li, N., & Kirkup, G. (2007). Gender and cultural differences in Internet use: A study of China and the UK. Computers & Education, 48, 301-317. MEB, (2009). MEB Internete erisim projesi. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.meb.gov.tr/ADSL/adsl_index.html Miniwatts Marketing Group, (2009). World Internet usage statistics news and population stats. Retrieved February 12, 2010, from www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Ono, H., & Zavodny, M. (2003). Gender and the Internet. Social Science Quarterly, 84(1), 111-121. Schumacher, P., & Morahan-Martin, J. (2001). Gender, Internet and computer attitudes and experiences. Computers in Human Behavior, 17(1), 95-110. TUIK, (2010). Press release: Information and communication technology (ICT) usage survey in households and individuals. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=6308 Weiser, E. B. (2000). Gender differences in Internet use patterns and Internet application preferences: A two-sample comparison. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(2), 167-178.